Southern Waters is investigating after millions of contaminated plastic beads washed up on Camber Sands Beach, risking an “environmental disaster”.
Biobeads can have a terrible effect on marine life, the local MP says, with fear of rare marine life, including sea urchins, including seabirds, porpoises and seals.
Helena DolleMore, the MP for Hastings and Rye, suspects that the frames may have been poured into a local water treatment center, wrote Gosgence Gosden, asking for an explanation.
Sandber Sands, in East Sussex, is one of England’s best-loved beaches, with its spectacular dune habitat and many golden trees.
Volunteers were ahead of time to clean up the strings, filling many bags with garbage, but the scale of the pollution was so great that they could get rid of it all.
Andy Dinsdale, from the group Polas in Polas Polusyon Estruslinersaid on Saturday: “This is the worst pollution event I have ever seen. It is contaminated plastic. Marine animals will ingest small plastic items once they are in the sea, they will attract algae, they will smell like food, effectively.
“Once they’ve eaten it, that’s it: they can’t get it. They’ll pick at the surface. It creates a slick that attracts seabirds.”
He said the cleanup efforts were exhausting. “Yesterday I was no longer there. We are trying to figure out the timeline and story for the terrible event. It is terrible.
“They are small from a distance, the beach is normal. But when you are close you can see the black pellets.
Dollmore, the Labor and co-operative MP who has joined the clean-up efforts, said: “So much plastic is dangerous in the ocean.
“Local residents who are out of work will look to get as many beads as possible, but it’s a race against time to add water to the available resources to support the cleanup in the meantime.”
Necklaces are also dangerous for dogs as they contain high amounts of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which have carcinogenic properties, and they often contain toxins including lead, antimony and bromine.
A spokesperson for Southern Waters said: “We are working closely with the environment agency and local district councils to investigate the source of plastic on beaches.
“Rother District Council is leading the beach clean-up, using specialists with a vehicle with supply equipment to remove the ropes.
“We manage the water quality of the coastal water, which has not shown any impact on the water quality of the environment. This data is shared with the Root District Council and the environmental agency.”
The environment agency has been contacted for comment.